AGUA DULCE, Texas — After having nearly a year under their belt, the first marshal in Agua Dulce in more than 75 years has seen success not only in the city but surrounding counties.
The city of Agua Dulce. The people sweet, but for decades, the traffic going through highway 44 wasn't.
"They sometimes pass by here going 80 or 90 miles per hour," Manuel Vargas, the Agua Dulce Tire Guy, said. "They're going fast."
Neighbors said drivers go way faster than the 40 mph speed limit or the 25 mph in a school zone.
"Very dangerous for our children," Mayor John Howard said.
Howard said, if residents spotted trouble, it would take longer for help to arrive.
"Twenty or thirty minutes sometimes an hour before they can get here for any thing." Howard said.
But when August 2018 rolled around, a new marshal came to town.
Joe Martinez and his deputy marshal Rico Rodriguez make up the two person department.
They said it was all thanks to a $200,000 donation.
"The Wyatt Foundation stepped up and said you know what a lot of our ranches are in Nueces County," Martinez said. "We need faster response time. We need more boots on the ground. We are gonna help yall with this money."
Martinez said it's money the small town can't get through federal grants until after their first year.
So, Nueces and their neighbors in surrounding counties gave what they could.
"Bullet proof vests, radio, communications," Romeo R. Ramirez, Sheriff of Duval County, said.
Sheriff Danny Bueno of Jim Wells County gave Martinez tasers, jail, body cams and access to their booking systems.
Residents said the city marshal's have made a difference.
Vargas saw the change first hand because he works right on HWY 44 across from the department.
"People are slowing down," Vargas said. "People are respecting Agua Dulce a little bit more. You know it's a better place to be. It's safe."
"Now we got people here that can be in five or ten minutes," Mayor Howard said,
"The Agua Dulce Marshals do a really good service," Nueces County Sheriff J.C. Hooper said. "Not just for the town of Agua Dulce but for the county of Nueces."
The marshals are also deputies for Nueces County.
Martinez said their jurisdiction goes all the way from Duval county to the sandy shores of Port Aransas.
"We are trying to fall in place and help as many agencies that we can because they've helped us to get where we are," Martinez.
Partnerships built on their love for protecting their community.